‘Mad Men’s’ Darkest Episode Follows Its Most Hated Character

The big picture

• Pete Campbell is so hated
  mad men,
  but season 5 reveals her vulnerability and loneliness.
• The episode “Signal 30” highlights Pete's failures and desire for approval in a particularly dark story.
• John Slattery directs the compelling episode that showcases Pete's tragic character.

He's the most hated man in the office and by fans around the world, but no one hates him more than himself. Pete Campbell is mad menis the most hated character on ', and season 5 peels back the layers of a bully to find the little man underneath. Performed by an exciting Vincent Kartheiser, delivering a deceptively difficult performance, Pete Campbell lies, cheats and disrespects women in all walks of life, from the office to his home. He seems to have it all with a wife and son in the suburbs and a good job at a prominent advertising agency. But in reality, the materialism and status he so eagerly pursues has led him to nothing.

Season 5 of mad men is the darkest season of the show. Don is at his most unhappy while being faithful to his new wife, Megan (Jessica Paré), Lane Pryce (Jared Harris) is struggling with depression that leads to his suicide, and Pete Campbell has transformed into a miserable worker without a purpose. It all comes to a head in the Season 5 episode “Signal 30,” in which the show focuses on the misunderstood Pete. He's a sad, messy puzzle wondering what the most hated person in the office looks like once he's gone. Led by the partner mad men star John Slattery and co-written by the creator of the series Matthew Weiner i Frank Pierson“Signal 30” became one of the most critically acclaimed and saddest episodes of the season.

“Signal 30” is a bleak character study by Pete Campbell

“Signal 30” finds the tragedy of Pete Campbell and the hilarity of his failed attempts to be the guy who has it all. The episode aims to correct some of the hatred towards Pete by letting viewers into the bully-like character's inner world and why he inflicts pain on others. Pete's life is perfectly encapsulated in the trickle of water that seeps from his faucet in the suburbs, where he is caught in a nightmare that most people would see as a dream.

Married to Trudy Campbell (Allison Brie) with a newborn baby girl, the leaking faucet haunts Pete. It's endless and insignificant, like the life Pete lives, but he doesn't know how to fix it. When Pete hosts a dinner party with Don, Ken (Aaron Staton), and his wives, is a big problem for him. Pete hides his loneliness with materialism, as he proudly shows Ken his new stereo sound system and wants to prove to both him and Don that he has everything a man could want. As Ken casually reveals that he is also a published author of short stories, this prompts more feelings of inadequacy in Pete and his need to turn everything into a competition.

When the sink inevitably bursts during dinner with water spraying everywhere, Don fixes it with ease, leaking it in the process. It's yet another competition that the office men engage in while Pete watches bitterly from the sidelines. Even with the sink fixed, something is still missing. Materialism doesn't buy happiness, and Pete's feelings of inadequacy make him a bad husband. The episode's infidelities highlight the void he tries to fill, and when he later sleeps with a woman in a brothel, he does so only when she calls him “My King.” Pete desperately wants to be placed on a pedestal and hailed for his greatness, but most people will only be good at something in life.

Pete Campbell and Lane Pryce go head-to-head in 'Signal 30'

Pete is “Signal 30's” biggest loser, literally. He fails to fix his own toilet, is bad at flirting with a teenage girl at driving school, and then loses a fight by getting punched in the face and knocked to the ground. Pete and Lane's fight adds a much-needed layer of comedy to the episode, but it's another sad moment in Pete's life that seemingly has no end to his humiliation. The two decide to have a fist fight after a failed client deal, with Don, Roger and Bertram Cooper looking on impatiently. Since then it has become one of the mad menmost emblematic moments. The office toxic boys club has never been livelier or more fun. As Pete and Lane trade punches, Lane wins easily, making a meal of Pete's face.

Kartheiser is fascinating, loathsome and heartbreaking in “Signal 30” and deserved an Emmy nomination for his work in the episode alone. While the fight is fun, reality sets in later when Pete shares an elevator ride with Don. Pete is the butt of everyone's joke, but he just wants to be liked and be friends with his co-workers. With bruises forming, Pete's ego has literally taken beating after beating. Beginning the episode by telling Don that he has everything, he does a complete 180 at the end, telling him, “I have nothing.” As he begins to cry in the elevator, Kartheiser puts decades of loneliness in Pete's eyes.

'Mad Men' co-star John Slattery directed the critically acclaimed episode

John Slattery, who plays comic relief and fan favorite Rodger Sterling, directed the episode “Signal 30”. It was his third time directing the series and he achieved the dark atmosphere that favored the season. At the time of its release, it was hailed as the best episode of the season so far. Getting under Campbell's skin in disturbing ways, Slattery's use of dripping water throughout the episode was a commanding directorial choice to show the endless mundanity of Pete's life.

The episode takes its title from the film shown in Pete's driver's education class, Signal 30an infamous movie about real-life car crashes. Pete's lowest and creepiest moments come with his attempts to flirt with a teenage girl in the class as he sits behind her in his perfect outfit, watching. When a cute teenager joins the class, he and the girl hit it off immediately, another humiliation in Pete's eyes. The last scene of the episode returns to the driver's education classroom, with Pete watching the pair enviously under the glow of a movie. He is alone in the dark, separated from everyone, watching, as he helplessly watched Don fix the sink. As they all live, Pete watches.

The final scene is set in Ken's new short story “The Man With the Miniature Orchestra” and is another brilliant example of Slattery's poignant direction in creating the lonely image of Pete Campbell and the strong writing of the material from Weiner and Pierson. Pierson is an iconic screenwriter known for his film, Dog day afternoonand the episode is mad menthe saddest entry. The finale finds Pete once again haunted by the sound of dripping water while in class. Ken provides voice-over narration of his short story, which is really about Pete, after watching him so desperately try to prove himself as the man who has everything at dinner. Ken writes: “The man in the miniature orchestra. Killing him with his silence and his loneliness. Making everything ordinary too beautiful to bear.” As the drop of water echoes through the last words, it's a warning that Pete can either drown or find a life jacket.

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